


our home together

by mixtapestar



Series: Comfortween 2020 [23]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Mosaic Timeline (The Magicians: A Life in the Day), Polyamory Negotiations, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:15:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: Arielle has a talk with Eliot.
Relationships: Arielle & Eliot Waugh, Arielle/Quentin Coldwater, Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Series: Comfortween 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948594
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41
Collections: Comfortween 2020





	our home together

**Author's Note:**

> For Comfortween Day 23: Enter Sandman (sleeping together for comfort).
> 
> Thank you to Rubi for the read through! <3

Eliot's back hurts after a full night of sleeping outside on the daybed. It's not that he begrudges Quentin and Arielle their time together. She can typically only stay over once every ten days in order to dodge her family's judgment about her "socialization choices", and with Eliot getting Quentin all to himself nine nights out of ten, the least he can do is give them their privacy. But the daybed is far from comfortable, and his warming charms tend to wear off after about four hours, leading to him shaking awake in the middle of the night and rubbing his hands together until they're warm and stable enough to re-apply the spell.

This particular visit is worse, he thinks, because Arielle's family is off visiting relatives, and she's free to stay for a full ten nights. He enjoys her company, he does. It's just… that fucking bed. He feels grumpy all morning, even if he tries to hide it for Arielle's sake. They finish up breakfast and get to work on a new pattern, Eliot wincing every time his back stretches a certain way. What he wouldn't give right now for two Advil.

On what feels like his fiftieth attempt to stretch the pain out, Eliot catches Arielle staring at him. "Would you like to go for a walk with me?" Arielle asks, and Quentin is already snapping his head up to say 'yes' before he realizes she's talking to Eliot.

Eliot arches an eyebrow, curious as to what's on her mind. "I could be coerced into taking a break."

"Quentin, would you mind?" she asks.

"Not at all," Quentin says, even as he glances between them, no doubt wondering as much as Eliot what's really going on. "I can finish this one up."

Eliot stretches as he stands, lifting his arms above his head. He can feel the chill against his middle as his shirt rides up, and he catches Quentin staring before he lowers his arms. He shoots him a wink as Arielle goes to kiss him, and he follows up with a kiss of his own, leaving Quentin a little dazed from the dual attention. He and Arielle share a satisfied smirk as they walk off into the forest.

They wind their way through the trees for a few minutes in companionable silence, but Eliot eventually has to break it. "So, just felt like stretching your legs, or is something on your mind?"

"Did you know, there's some flora you can find in the woods called Thorn Blooming Brush that, when prepared properly, can ease joint and muscle pain?"

Eliot raises his eyebrows. "I see I can hide nothing from you."

"If you were trying to hide it, you definitely shouldn't consider a future in the theatre."

Eliot laughs. "No, I haven't heard of it, but that sounds perfect. What am I looking for?"

She describes a flower that he has a hard time visualizing, with spikes along one side and blooms within the spikes. Mostly he just follows her lead, until they come upon a cluster of the flowers, all in different colors. Sure enough, what appear to be normal, affronting spikes along the edge break open to reveal vivid blooms.

"I can prepare it for you now, if you can start a fire."

"Ah, my specialty," Eliot says, kneeling in a clear spot to gather sticks for kindling, then lighting it up with an expert flick of his wrist.

Arielle kneels and takes her time with each spike, heating it directly over the fire until the bloom spills forth on its own, changing from a vibrant orange to a vivid blue in the flame. She sets each bloom aside as she goes. Eliot watches, so mesmerized by the process that her next words catch him especially off-guard. "I want you to consider sharing a bed with us."

Eliot blinks at her, thrown for a second by her candor. "That's… not what we agreed to," he reminds her.

"What we _agreed to_ was that we could revisit our terms of engagement anytime one of us felt unhappy."

"Do you feel unhappy?" Eliot asks, staring at the fire and being deliberately obtuse.

Arielle cuts him a look over her shoulder that says she's not having his sarcasm today. "You're clearly miserable on that joke of a bed outside. And even if you weren't, Eliot, the cottage is your _home_. I don't expect you to leave it just for me."

"That's sweet, but. You two deserve to have your own space, when you can get away. Even if you're okay with it, Quentin may not appreciate my hanging around."

Arielle smirks. "On the contrary. I have it on good authority there's nothing he would like more than to have us both around, all the time."

Eliot raises his eyebrows. " _All_ the time?"

Arielle snorts, to Eliot's delight. "Yes, actually. But I personally prefer to keep a few things private. The point still stands about sleeping, though. Your mattress is plenty big for three people. We'd all be happier, I think, if you would join us."

Eliot feels torn, knowing that Quentin is unlikely to speak up if the situation changes. "Promise you'll tell me the moment you change your mind, or get a suspicion that Quentin wants more alone time with you. We both know he'll try to keep it to himself."

"Deal," she says, and presents him with the thorn blooms.

Eliot takes them from her, sniffing one thoughtfully before taking a bite. It tastes bitter, but with a weirdly pleasant aftertaste. He has to wonder about a placebo effect, because his muscles are already feeling slightly better after a few seconds. Feeling grateful, suddenly, for her help in this and her resolute open mindedness when it comes to their relationship with Quentin, he says, "You're really good for him, you know. For both of us, really. We're lucky to have you."

She pulls him into a hug that he's not prepared for. "I could say the same of you."

Eliot relaxes into the hug, wrapping his arms around her. He'd expect Quentin to say something of the sort, but not necessarily Arielle. He feels especially lucky, right now, that she's the one that stumbled upon their little setup so early in their quest.

"Finish those up," she says as she pulls away. "They should last you until dinnertime. I'll bring some back with us for later."

He feels much better for the rest of the day, and not just because his back is no longer sore. He takes a certain joy in watching Quentin look between them, wondering what had gone on but stubbornly refusing to ask. He flirts with Arielle throughout the afternoon just to make her laugh, and he spots Quentin's amusement at his antics as well.

As Eliot prepares dinner, Quentin winds up the music box they'd bought in the market and dances Arielle across the room. Eliot watches from the corner and occasionally calls out instructions for them, a spin here, a dip there. He's delighted when he asks for a dip and Arielle takes Quentin into her arms, tilting him back. The music carries on even after he puts out the fire, dishing everything out for the three of them.

"Eliot will be staying inside with us tonight," Arielle says matter-of-factly as they all sit down to dinner.

"Really?" Quentin asks, making Eliot's heart jump in his sincerity.

"Your girlfriend is very persuasive," Eliot says, as if the proposal wasn't something he'd been dying for since his first night out on the daybed.

"Yeah, well, my _boyfriend_ is very stubborn, so it's tough to know which is gonna win out."

Eliot rolls his eyes and changes the subject, asking Arielle how she came to know about the thorn bloom remedy. She explains how one of her cousins is an herbalist, always trying to manipulate plants he finds in the wild and come up with new concoctions. Eliot thinks of Josh and shares a smile with Quentin.

Later that evening, Arielle rubs at her shoulders and says, "I think I'll go down to the stream for a swim and a wash before bed. Would you two like to join me?"

Quentin is on board immediately, and even though the ever-temperate nature of the water sounds nice right now, Eliot still thinks they deserve a few moments alone together while Arielle is staying here, so he begs off. Instead, he spends some time doing some housekeeping, cleaning the dishes, reapplying some of their spells, updating their store list so they won't miss anything the next time they go to market.

When he feels satisfied, he moves into the bedroom to get ready for bed. He hears the sound of Quentin and Arielle returning as he changes out of his breeches into the thicker, stretchy pants he most often uses for sleep. Next he pulls his shirt over his head and, after a moment's deliberation, leaves it at that. After everything they've shared together, he doubts Arielle will be scandalized by him sleeping shirtless. And the warmth of their bedroom is magnificent after he'd mentally prepared himself for ten nights outside.

Quentin comes in while he's still folding his clothes on top of the dresser. He stands next to Eliot until he has his attention, then presses up on his toes to swipe his lips against Eliot's, holding a hand to the center of his chest. "I'm glad you're joining us," he says simply, eyes bright. He shuffles away and flops dramatically onto the center of the bed, grabbing his favorite pillow and making a place for it between the other two. "I never liked you out there on that bed all night, even with the wards up. This is Fillory, after all."

Eliot sits on the edge of the bed, pondering this. If they were talking about the Fillory of the future, the one they'd left behind, he'd be inclined to agree. But something about this little area they've cultivated, mosaic and all, seems to be out of reach from the usual Fillory fuckery. Maybe it's just too early in the timeline, with Ember focusing his chaos elsewhere. "I was fine outside," Eliot says, stretching out alongside Quentin and propping up on an elbow. "But I don't mind relocating."

It's odd to feel sentimental over a piece of furniture, but this bed's seen them through a lot in their three years so far. Their first year, which they started out sticking resolutely to opposite sides of the bed, then somewhere along the way began waking up tangled together in the middle, getting up separately or together and choosing not to comment. Then that brief interlude, when interest was known and shared but everything was still new and tentative, and Eliot sometimes hesitated to even face Quentin when going to bed for fear of showing his hand. And then all the glorious nights scattered throughout their time since then, when they found pleasure and companionship and even love together. Eliot can admit now to Arielle's point about a home, even if he hesitated before.

With all this floating through his mind, Eliot leans down to kiss Quentin, whose still-damp hair tickles against Eliot's cheek. They keep it light, relatively chaste with the knowledge that Arielle is on her way, but Eliot burns with the knowledge that either one of them could flip that switch over to hot and heavy in a moment. That's just how it is, when he's with Quentin. He slides his fingers just under the hem of Quentin's sleep shirt, to rest against the skin of his hip, feel the heat coming off his body.

They don't notice Arielle joining them until they feel the dip of the mattress. Quentin pulls out of the kiss, but continues staring brightly up at Eliot while Arielle gets settled. Quentin reaches down to lace his fingers with Eliot's where they rest over his hip, then twists around to give Arielle a kiss, no less sweet or passionate than the one he'd just shared with Eliot. Eliot watches them and finds that the jealousy from their first few months together is nothing but a memory. They truly are making this work, and he's happy to see them both happy.

When they all settle in, Quentin spelling the lights down to their dimmest, it's as natural as breathing for Eliot to tuck up against Quentin's back, a hand at his waist, as Quentin fits much the same against Arielle. They'll likely get too warm, at some point, and someone may get kicked, but right now it's the most comfortable Eliot thinks he's ever felt. They all murmur their goodnights to each other, and Eliot falls asleep with a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! <3


End file.
